Lucy Pittaway

My love of art began when I was a child. I loved whiling away the hours drawing and making things. As a young girl and teenager I was always at my happiest when left with some drawing materials and paper! In fact, throughout my life I have always been passionate about art, craft and design. I’ve experimented with practically every medium, both in two and three dimensions from furniture painting, jewellery making, floristry and animation but my main passion lies with painting and drawing.

When the time came for me to choose a career path I was in no doubt that it would be something within the realms of Art and Design, I just didn’t know what specialism it would be. Every aspect of the creative Industry excited and inspired me and I just wanted to try my hand at all of it! So, after leaving school I went to college for two years to study Art and Design and there I won several competitions for my ideas and designs. I loved all aspects of the Art and Design industry and found it difficult to narrow it down to one field. I chose Graphic Design and went on to complete my Degree at Northumbria University where I developed my skills in digital art, photography and mixed media. After Graduating I took a gap year and ran my own business in creative crafts before pursuing my chosen career. I spent just two years as a Graphic Designer before moving on to a teaching role at the college I studied at, only six years earlier. I felt it was an interesting opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.

During my year teaching career I learned as much as I did when I was a student! I loved working with students and watching them develop their skills and I learned a lot from them too. My professional development was ongoing and following a move to an Art College I progressed into digital media and taught Animation, Games Design, Website Design and Photography. Like many teachers I was given generous holidays and spent as much of that time as possible drawing and creating canvases that I sold to various clientelle in the Uk and Europe.

As time progressed, I came to the conclusion that I enjoyed creating my own paintings and drawings far more than teaching and so gave up my teaching career to pursue my lifetime passion and a life long ambition to become an artist. I initially set out creating individual works of art including commissions for local and international clients. Since then I have focussed my attention on working on two collections of pastel drawings. The first is a series of ever-changing horizons that I have been fortunate enough to see around the world and the second, a personal journey of a special love I have encountered along the path of life. The two collections share the same medium and love of nature and landscape but are very diverse in style.

As I write this I think about my young family and the changes that have taken place in the last few years of my life and I feel privileged that I can reflect on this through my art. I also feel a great sense of achievement that my work has graced the walls and filled the hearts of many people, who’s lives are as diverse as the changing seasons but whom share one common thing, the love of something beautiful, whether that is the colour, shape, texture or meaning of a piece of art and I hope to continue this journey for years to come.